


Sparks and Tears

by misura



Series: Sparks [2]
Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Advent Calendar, Battle for Zendikar, Community: lands_of_magic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 08:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5410490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>They are suffering from a sickness of the mind,</i> Kiora had told him. <i>You are a mind-mage. It seems to me that if anyone might come up with a cure, it would be you.</i></p>
<p>
  <i>Besides, we have no other use for you right now.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sparks and Tears

_They are suffering from a sickness of the mind,_ Kiora had told him. _You are a mind-mage. It seems to me that if anyone might come up with a cure, it would be you._

_Besides, we have no other use for you right now._

Which was all well and good, but it didn't explain what _Chandra_ was doing here. The fact that _she_ didn't look very happy to be here, either, didn't help.

"You know, you're not going to melt from a little water." She was a fire-mage, the merfolk lived in the water; you didn't have to be a genius to work that one out.

She glared at him. "I'm not afraid of melting. This place is just giving me the creeps."

Jace hadn't even paid much attention to where they were. He'd cast a warding spell to warn him if any Eldrazi or Eldrazi-corrupted beings were to get to close, but otherwise, he'd resigned himself to wait for the delegation they were supposed to meet here.

Clearly, they were standing in the middle of what had once been a temple. There were three statues, depicting three deities. _Right._ He wondered who'd picked the meeting place.

He also wondered, briefly, what Kiora expected him to do here. Saying _Sorry the gods you worshipped turned out to be a trio of eldritch abominations, now please cheer up and enlist in our wonderful army where you are almost 100% guaranteed to get killed or erased from existence entirely_ probably wouldn't be quite enough.

Yes, he was a mind-mage. And with the right spell, he could probably make some of these people forget they'd ever been anything other than atheists. Not all of them, though. No spell he knew of would accomplish _that_.

"Please tell me you look worried because of some theoretical, hypothetical problem that only exists in your head."

"These people need something to believe in," Jace said. "They need new gods."

Chandra gave him a disgusted look. "There are more things between heaven and earth than gods, Beleren. By which I don't mean the Eldrazi, by the way. Or us."

Kiora's trident supposedly had belonged to a god, once. "Then what? What are we supposed to be doing here?" Clearly, _Kiora_ wasn't really looking for new gods - unless it was to rob them.

"Well, stopping any more people from killing themselves would probably be a good start."

"Yes. Getting them to join the allied forces seems an excellent way to accomplish _that_." Jace had seen the casualty reports. No names, just numbers. There wasn't enough paper to include names.

Chandra shrugged. "It'd be something. For one, it'd get them away from this place. Out there, they'll meet other people. See what the Eldrazi are doing to this plane. _Their_ plane. That doesn't piss them off and kick their brains back in action, nothing else is going to, either."

"So now we're just recruiters." Not exactly the role he'd imagined playing when he'd come here.

"Hey, you've got a cure for disillusionment and despair, go for it. Otherwise, be prepared to talk fast and to talk slick and to charm the socks off of everybody who isn't won over by your cute smile."

_Cute?_ "They're merfolk. I don't think they wear socks."

Chandra gestured dismissively. "You know what I mean."

"And what will _you_ be doing in the meantime?"

She grinned at him. "I think I see some stuff that could do with a good burning down."

"We're underwater. I don't believe - "

The left statue - Cosi, Jace thought - burst into flames.

"Oh ye of little faith," Chandra said.


End file.
